Mary and Jeremy Cox, Christian parents from Indiana, have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review their case after they lost custody of their son for not affirming his self-declared transition to a female identity in 2021.
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the Department of Child Services’ (DCS) removal of their son from his parents’ custody. The parents’ petition says the DCS failed to protect their parental rights as well as their rights to free speech and free exercise of religion. The Indiana Supreme Court declined their case.
“We unfortunately had to become reluctant warriors when our child was removed from our home after DCS became involved in our family life,” Mary said in a testimonial video. When their son, referred to as A.C. in court records, decided to transition to a female gender identity, his parents could not in good conscience use his preferred female name and pronouns to refer to him.
DCS initiated an investigation due to a report that the parents were not affirming A.C.’s desire to change genders in their home. A.C. was removed, with DCS saying at an initial hearing, “We just feel at this point in time this child needs to be in a home that’s not going to … tell her how she should think and how she should feel.” A.C. was not returned to his parents’ custody, even after all allegations of abuse and neglect against them were dropped. He was out of his parents’ home for over a year, ultimately aging out of the foster care system.
Mary and Jeremy were barred by the trial court from speaking to their son about the entire topic of sex and gender, but the court required that the home he be placed in verbally affirm his self-declared female gender identity. The parents could only see their son for a few hours each week.
“When our son was removed, it was like someone pulled the rug out from underneath us,” Jeremy Cox said. “His disappearance made a huge hole in our hearts and our family, but we will always love him and pray for him.”
According to the parents, their situation is not an isolated incident; multiple families are facing the same issues. “The mental health support services that we experienced were very much following an agenda toward affirmation only, which for our family was not going to resolve our child’s issues,” Mary Cox explained.
The parents say they are speaking out now for the protection of parental rights in Indiana, and they hope that no one else will have to endure the loss of the right to raise their own child because of disagreement with transgender ideology. They are supported by the Indiana Family Institute.
